


No Lane Lines Can Keep Us Apart

by oceanaries



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron Legendary Defender
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, M/M, antisocial keith, high School klance, klance high school au, klance slowburn, slowburn, swimmer Lance, swimmer keith, swimmer shiro, voltron high school, voltron high school au, voltron swim, voltron swim au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-26 12:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17745764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceanaries/pseuds/oceanaries
Summary: Keith is a fifteen year old with no social life and Shiro decides to change that. Basically Keith is forced to join the Voltron High School swim team, making some new friends and enemy's along the way as well as dealing with the struggles of being a teenager in high school.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! Hope you enjoy the first chapter of this fanfiction. There will be more in the future but it will probably take me awhile to update since I’m always busy with school. This story is kinda based on some of the experience in my life so this has been a lot of fun for me to write so far. I’ll try to update this as often as possible but no promises. This fanfiction is also available on wattpad if you’d rather read it there (its the same title but by purple_bayard)

Keith Kogane was just your average fifteen year old. He was a sophomore at Voltron High school and absolutely despised everything about high school life. It wasn't that he struggled with the curriculum, actually it was the opposite. He took multiple AP and honors classes and passed most of them with ease. Except for AP chemistry, that class was a bitch. But nonetheless he still got a B plus in the class, lower than his other class scores but still good. 

But besides the point, Keith didn't like school because it was divided into a social hierarchy, and Keith was pretty close to the bottom, which kinda sucked. 

Anyhow, Keith's packed school schedule left very little time for extracurriculars after school. He had so much homework that he never had time to do anything on school days. Not that he minded though. Keith wasn't the most social person, he preferred to be in his room with the lights off watching anime under his bed covers. 

Now, Keith probably sounded like a normal teenage boy with a normal life. But there was something that set him apart from most of the kids his age. When he was maybe five years old his dad had died. He was a firefighter and always put his life on the line to save others, which Keith had always admired. He could remember telling his mom and dad about how he wanted to be a firefighter when he was older. He always wore a red jacket and one of those plastic fireman hats that the firefighters give to little kids, making siren noises as he zoomed through the hallways of his house pretending to be a fire truck. However, after the incident with his dad, Keith no longer desired to be a firefighter. He wanted nothing to do with the thing that had made him lose his dad. 

This was years ago though, so Keith is pretty much over it. Sure, he had lost his dad, but it's not like he can remember much of what life was like before everything happened. So if he couldn't remember anything besides bits and pieces, then what did he have to be upset about? Nothing. 

So that was one of the only things about Keith's life that set him apart from the other kids, aside from taking vigorous classes and watching anime. But Keith could guarantee that lots of other kids at his school watch anime, they just aren't ready to embrace the inner weeb growing inside of them. 

At the moment, Keith was laying in his bed with his laptop on his stomach, watching Ouran High School Host Club because he was bored and had watched almost every other anime offered on Netflix. Even though it was one of the dumbest things he's ever watched, it was a classic. Keith enjoyed the feeling of loving and hating a show at the same time, and Ouran Host Club was perfect for that. 

While he was regretting his Netflix binge decisions, he heard a loud knock come from his door. "What do you want?!" Keith yelled from his spot on the bed, not particularly wanting to get up at the moment. The person knocking didn't respond though, they just started to knock again. Keith tried to channel out the obnoxious sound, focusing on the laptop screen that was in front of him, but the knocking just got gradually louder and more rapid. 

"Whoever's doing that is going to regret it!" Keith said loudly, taking his laptop off his lap and placing it on his nightstand. After this, Keith threw the blanket covering him off to the side and quickly jumped out of bed. Keith could feel goosebumps beginning to spread over his legs from the cold air in his bedroom. Keith pulled on a pair of bright blue sweats over his boxers, when and why he got the horrid sweats Keith had no idea, and stomped toward his bedroom door to confront the rude person who was making him get out of bed and interrupting his show. 

When Keith flung his door open, he instantly groaned at the sight of the person in front of him. "Aww looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake." Keith's sister, Acxa, said in a sickly sweet voice. She was wearing black sweats and a tie dye Panic! At The Disco shirt that she stole from Keith's when he outgrew it. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, although many pieces of hair had escaped from the hair tie. 

Keith just groaned. "I wasn't asleep. And what do you want anyway?" After he said this, Keith heard a loud bang from downstairs, like a pan was dropped on the floor or something like that. 

Acxa just chuckled. "You've got a visitor, and they probably just scared the crap out of mom, so I'd go take care of that if I were you." She said while playing with a purple piece of her hair. Acxa has somehow convince their mom to let her dye her hair. She originally wanted to dye her whole head purple, but their mom greatly opposed the idea, since she loved Acxa's beautiful dark brown hair. As a compromise, Acxa just got streaks of purple in her hair. And she would never admit this to their mom, but she was great full that she didn't dye her whole head purple, after a few months she realized that it would look awful that way. The only reason Acxa told Keith this was because she accidentally texted Keith her views on the subject instead of her friend. 

Keith just stood there in confusion. "Who the hell is visiting this early in the morning?" Keith asked, even though he had a pretty good idea who was waiting downstairs. He didn't have that many friends after all, so there were only about two different people who could be downstairs. 

"Don't ask me, just go down there and make sure mom is okay, I need to go FaceTime Veronica." Acxa said, and with that she made her way down the hallway towards her room. 

Keith started to make his way down the stairs once Acxa had gone to her room to FaceTime her friend. Once he got towards the bottom of the stairs, he could hear the conversation occurring between his mystery guest and his mom. Keith stopped where he was to listen to his mom and his friend talk. 

"Shiro, I love you, I really do. But you can't just show up at our house unannounced and scare the shit out of he like that." Keith's mom explained to Keith's visitor, who turned out to be Shiro. Keith wasn't really surprised that Shiro came over, he does this quite often, but he is confuse about why Shiro came over this early. It was only seven a.m. on a Saturday and no other sane teenager would be up this early Saturday morning. Well, except for Keith and Acxa, maybe it was a family thing. 

"I'm sorry Krolia, but I really need to talk to Keith, it's urgent!" Shiro explained. Keith peaked into the kitchen from the bottom of the stairs where neither his mom or friend could see him. He saw him mom in a pair of dark purple scrubs and black bottoms, apparently she just came home from a shift at the emergency room. Shiro was standing on the other side of the kitchen that was closest to the front door. Shiro was a junior in high school, a year older than Keith. He was wearing dark jeans, a white T-shirt, and a pair of black converse. Shiro also had his prosthetic arm on, he got in a really bad car accident with his mom in sixth grade. He made it out okay, except his arm had been severed off from a large piece of glass that broke off the windshield. His mom on the other hand, didn't make it. So Shiro just lived with his dad, even though he wasn't home much of the time. 

Krolia just sighed. "You say that every time you come over. Last week you came over at eleven p.m. saying it was urgent and I later found out that you just needed to get show Keith the new character you unlocked in Super Smash Bros Ultimate."

"Okay, so maybe finally unlocking Piranha Plant wasn't that important, but this time it is! Trust me!" Shiro said, making the puppy dog face that little kids often make in order to get what they want. 

Krolia rolled her eyes before answering. "Fine. But we seriously need to set some rules about when you're able to come over. As much as I love having you around, I have night shifts too often for you to be coming over super early or late at night."

"Right! Sorry, I always forget you do the graveyard shifts at the hospital. How's the ER working out for you by the way?" Shiro asked. 

"It's been good except for the fact that I'm practically nocturnal now, but don't change the subject!" Krolia told him, crossing her arms like any mom would in this situation. Keith's mom started working in the emergency room as a nurse a few months ago. Before Keith's dad died, she didn't work because otherwise the Acxa and himself would be alone since his dad spent multiple days at the firehouse. So after Keith's dad passed, Krolia had to quickly pick up a job in order to support the kids, which happened to be waitressing. After a few years of working as a waitress at an Applebee's, she decided to go to collage and become a nurse. She wanted to be a nurse since high school but never got around to it. So after multiple years of going to school with two kids and a job, Krolia finally became a Registered Nurse for the ER. 

"You're right. I'm sorry, it won't happen again. Can I talk to Keith now?" Shiro apologized, Keith could tell he genuinely felt bad for putting Keith's mom through the ringer with his unexpected visits. Although his mom pretended to be bothered by it, she enjoyed Shiro's company and was glad that Keith had made such a good friend. 

Keith decided now would be a good time to make his presence known in the room. Taking the final few steps down the staircase rather loudly, he greeted his mom and his best friend. "Hello my dear beloved mother that I love very much! And Shiro, my man! My brotha! How have you been?" Keith said while shooting Shiro and his mom a pair of finger guns, mentally hitting himself for acting like a white suburban dad. 

Krolia just gave him a concerned look. "Shiro just came over to talk to you. Apparently it's 'super important'. Just make sure you unload the dishwasher in the next thirty minutes, I'm taking a nap. Nice to see you Shiro." She said, giving Shiro a high five and kissing Keith on the cheek before climbing the stairs to get some sleep before her next shift. 

Keith felt bad that his mom had to work so hard, but she seemed to enjoy her job which is important. Keith had been thinking about getting a job to help her out but he knew she would shoot down the idea. But nonetheless, Keith had to get a job if he wanted to be able to buy himself a car. Maybe he could work at a McDonald's, anyone can get hired there. 

"So what's so important?" Keith asked, searching the kitchen cabinets trying to find some Ovaltine. For some reason, Keith didn't really like chocolate that much, but he absolutely loved chocolate milk. It was just so good, even though it probably wasn't the best for his health but at this point he didn't really care.

"Basically you're lazy and antisocial and need to do something productive with your life besides school." Shiro bluntly said to Keith. Keith just furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

"Was that suppose to be an insult," Keith asked, not really knowing what was going on at the moment. "I thought you said this was important. There is nothing important about my social life."

Shiro sighed. "That's because you don't have a social life. You spend too much time doing homework. And not to mention you watch copious amounts of anime, like seriously haven't you run out of shows to watch?" 

Keith could see where Shiro was coming from, but he liked his schedule. "So you're mad at me for being responsible and doing my work. And what I do with my free time is none of your business." Keith shot back. 

During all of this Keith was still searching for some Ovaltine, not knowing where it went. He groaned in frustration, upset he wouldn't be able to make any chocolate milk to distract him from Shiro's stupidness. "It's in the top right cabinet on the middle shelf." Shiro said, taking a seat at the dinner table. 

"Thanks man," Keith said while as he grabbed the Ovaltine out of the cupboard. Shiro knew the house as well as he did, so Keith wasn't too surprised when Shiro helped him find the missing Ovaltine. 

"But Keith I'm serious, you really need to do something else with your life. I don't mean to sound like a mom but high school is considered the highlight of most people's lives. Imagine looking back on this moment twenty years from now, you'd probably wishing you did more with your life." Shiro said seriously. "Also, doing extracurriculars looks good on collage applications."

Keith face palmed and groaned. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right." Keith said, "do you have any suggestions?"

Shiro gave him a shit eating grin that scared Keith a little. "In fact, I already have it planned out. Remember when we were on that summer swim team in elementary and middle school?"

"Oh no," Keith said, not even aware of the fact that he spoke. Up until he was in eighth grade, Keith's mom had signed him up for a summer swim team called the The Belugas because she wanted him to do a sport for at least a few months of the year to stay active and healthy. He had been on the team since first grade, which added up to about eight years where he spent his summers going to swim practices Monday through Friday and swim meets early on Saturday mornings. Keith ended up not signing up when he was a freshman because he wanted to relax over summer and was lazy. Shiro had been on swim team for as long as Keith had and he moved from the summer swim team to a year round team when he started high school. Shiro was actually a really good swimmer, he went to many competitions and even competed in a few minor Paralympic events. 

"Shiro, where are you going with this?" Keith asked hesitantly, even though he knew what Shiro was going to say next. 

Shiro already had a smirk on his face, but it somehow grew larger, which really unnerved Keith.

"Keith, we are both joining the Voltron High School swim team this year."

Keith just stared at Shiro. There was no way he was going to join the swim team for his high school. It would be suicide for multiple reason. One reason would be that Keith hadn't swam in the past two years, so he would be so out of shape. Reason number two is that a majority of the popular kids at his school are on the swim team, and Keith really didn't want to spend multiple hours a day with the people he strongly disliked. And the final reason, the coach required the swimmers to wear speedos at meet, and Keith looked absolutely hideous in a speedo. He was ghostly pale and pretty thin for someone his age, despite his horrible eating habits. There was just no way Keith was ever wearing a speedo, he'd be fine with wearing jammers, but speedos were a big no no is Keith's books. 

"No. No no no no no. Never in a million years. Nope. Not going to happen. Never." Keith said while pouring his recently obtained Ovaltine into a cup and adding milk to it. He kept saying different variations of no as he stirred his chocolate milk. 

Shiro sighed, he does a lot of that in Keith's house for some reason. "Just hear me out." Shiro tried, but Keith was already walking towards the stairs, chocolate milk in hand. Shiro followed him up the stairs all the way up to his bedroom. Once Shiro entered, Keith was already laying on his bed, turning on his laptop probably to watch more anime. When Keith got his laptop set up, Shiro looked to see what he was watching. "Ouran Host Club? Seriously?"

Keith quickly closed his laptop. "Hey don't judge me!" Keith said in defense, "I was bored and wanted to do something."

"That just proved my point you idiot! If you have enough free time to watch anime, a dumb one at that, then you should try something new. Like swim team. With me. Please." As Shiro was saying this he tried to pull Keith out of bed, but he wouldn't budge. 

"Shiro, I haven't swam in like two years, I'm so out of shape that I'd be the slowest person on the team." Keith said while holding onto his bedsheets, trying to resist Shiro pulling him off the bed by his arm. 

"It's only January, practice doesn't start until February. We can go to the pool at the gym and get you back into shape before the season starts." After this, Shiro grabbed the hippo pillow pet that Keith had his head resting on. 

Keith's head thumped on the mattress and he slowly turned towards Shiro. "You realize that it'll be almost impossible for me to get back into shape in only a month, right?" 

"Keith, stop making excuses. I really want to join but I don't want to do it alone!! And you're like my only friend who actually has swimming experience. So please do this for me?" Shiro asked with his puppy eyes that made Keith struggle to say no. 

"Fine. I'll do it. But just know I will be miserable the entire time." Keith groaned, what have I gotten myself into? 

Upon hearing Keith's words, Shiro let out a triumphant shout while jumping in the air. "This is going to be so much fun, thank you so much Keith, you won't regret this I promise!" Shiro said quite loudly. While Shiro was reveling in his victory, someone knocked on Keith's door. 

"Ahh crap." Keith said while getting out of bed. It was probably his mom, who was trying to get some sleep. Once he opened the door, Keith found his prediction to be correct. In front of him stood Krolia, wearing a pair of purple plaid pajama pants and a white tank top, looking like she had just woken up. 

"Can you two please keep it down?" She asked tiredly which made Keith feel incredibly guilty. Shiro on the other hand, was oblivious to this. 

"Hey Krolia I have great news!" He said excitedly. 

"Tell me about it when I'm not running on four hours of sleep," she told him simply before walking down the hall back to her bedroom. "Let's get out of here, I don't want to piss off your mom again." Shiro told Keith before exiting his room.

"I'll be downstairs in a second, I have to get changed." Keith said before closing his bedroom door and grabbing the first thing he found in his closet, which happened to be a pair of black ripped jeans and a gray sweatshirt he got at a MCR concert. After making himself look somewhat decent, Keith arrived downstairs where he found Shiro putting on a windbreaker before grabbing his car keys. 

"So where are we going?" Keith asked as he found a piece of paper to write a note for his mom, letting her know he was with Shiro. 

Shiro just gave him a mischievous smirk before responding. "It's a surprise. Now let's go have some fun." 

Keith just rolled his eyes. Oh great.


	2. keith goes shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy chapter 2!! It will probably take me awhile to update again because school has been a living hell but I'll try writing whenever I have free time. Love ya guys :)

Shiro wouldn't tell Keith where they were going no matter how much Keith insisted. But after about fifteen minutes in the car, Keith knew exactly where they were going. 

"Shiro," Keith spoke with his voice full of malice. "If we are going where I think we are going, you better have a good explanation."

Shiro just chuckled. "All will be explained later, just be quiet and listen to your emo music." Shiro said while turning up the volume of the radio, hushing Keith with Fallout Boy. Keith just groaned and crossed his arms. After another five minutes had passed, the two boys had arrived at the place Keith had predicted Shiro would take him. 

The mall. 

"Shiro, you know I hate the mall. There's so many people and everything is overpriced." Keith whined. Shiro just ignored him while trying to find a parking spot. After successfully parking, Shiro and Keith walked into the horrid place. Upon entering, Keith groaned. The sight of so many people and the weird mall smell made him nauseous. 

"Follow me." Shiro told Keith, grabbing his wrist to drag him in the right direction. 

Keith quickly pulled his arm out of Shiro's grasp. "I'm not five, I don't need you holding my hand." Keith mumbled to himself while walking behind Shiro. After walking past multiple shoe and clothing stores, the two boys had reached their destination. 

The Aquatics store. 

Keith really should have seen this coming, it was definitely something Shiro would do. This place sold a bunch of swim suits and swimming equipment, such as kick boards and fins. Upon entering the store, Keith saw multiple plastic mannequins wearing a variety of swimsuits. 

"So basically we need to get a black speedo with stripe on the side, the coach said the color of the stripe doesn't matter." Shiro told Keith while scrolling through an email the swim coach sent out, making Keith groan. 

"Shiro, you know how much I hate speedos." Keith complained, crossing his arms and they wandered through the store. Shiro just ignored him as they searched for the correct swimsuit. Finally, they spotted the clothing rack and just the sight of it made Keith cringe. Hanging from the rack were little tiny speedos, ranging from plain black to fluorescent pink. "Alright, lets just get this over with." Keith grumbled while grabbing the first swimsuit he got his hands on. 

This action made Shiro chuckle. He walked up to Keith and grabbed the suit out of his hands. "Yeah, good luck racing in a size forty." Shiro said while laughing. Keith was pretty skinny for his age, so a size forty would just slide right off his body if he jumped into the pool. Keith ignored him, grabbing the suit back from Shiro and hanging it on the rack. "Hey, chill out. I'll pick out some suits you might like and then you can try them on. Go find some goggles and a swim cap while I'm doing this." 

"Ugh, fine. But don't get one that's too bright." Keith said, leaving Shiro to look at swim suits while he roamed around the store. He eventually arrived at the back wall of the store where all the caps and goggles were put on display. Keith didn't understand why they couldn't just order this stuff online, it would have save them so much time. After a few minutes, Keith decided on a black TYR swim cap and a pair of black Speedo goggles with a red strap on them. After he had chosen these items, Shiro came up to him holding five different speedos. 

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. Is he for real? "Why are there so many?" Keith asked. Shiro just ignored him, pushing the younger boy towards the dressing room. 

"Try these on. I'll be waiting out here. And don't forget to show me!" Shiro said before shoving Keith into the dressing room with the cursed speedos. 

"You're not my mom, I don't have to show you anything!" Keith told him. "And why aren't you trying on anything?"

"Because I've been swimming for the last few years and I know my swimsuit size. I already picked one out." Shiro told him, holding up a black speedo with a white stripe down the side. 

After stubbornly arguing with Shiro in the dressing room, Keith finally gave up, closing the curtain violently and preparing to try on the speedos. The first one was black with a yellow stripe on the side. Nope, Keith told himself while looking in the mirror. The next one was solid pink, Keith assumed this was Shiros idea of a funny joke. He didn't even try that one on. Then there was also one with a green stripe, which Keith also didn't try on because it looked like throw up. The one after that was dark blue and Keith didn't mind this one, it actually look alright on him. But he just wasn't vibing with that one, so he tossed it to the side. All that was left was a black one with a red stripe down the side. After trying it on, Keith found he actually liked it, aside from the fact it was a speedo. Red had always been one of his favorite colors, so he just went with it. 

After getting changed into his regular clothes, he exited the dressing room and found Shiro leaning against a wall with his phone in hand. "What happened to you showing me each one?" Shiro asked mockingly. "I wanted to see how sexy you looked in a speedo."

Keith threw the speedos he didn't like at Shiro, a small blush spreading to his cheeks at the words. "Screw you. I did what you asked, now let's go." Keith told Shiro. He would have used stronger language but they were in public and there was a little boy, maybe six years old, next to them. He didn't want to corrupt the kid this early in life. Resisting the urge to flip the older boy off right in front of this little kid, Keith stuck up his three middle fingers at Shiro. "Read between the lines dumbass." He said, whispering the last part do the kid wouldn't hear him. 

This just made Shiro lean over laughing. "Hey I don't like your language mister. You better watch yourself." Shiro told him, trying to hold a serious tone, but failing miserably. "Ok but seriously, I'm assuming that you picked that black one." Shiro said pointing to the blacks hit with the red stripe on the side. "You also need a practice suit. You should save your racing suit for swim meets only so it doesn't get super stretched or and ruined. So go pick another suit to practice in."

Keith, not wanting to stay in the store any longer, grabbed one of he suits he threw at Shiro earlier. He picked up the blue one that he didn't totally despise and waved it is Shiro's face. "Happy?" 

"Absolutely. You're going to look like a little blue shark in the water. You should have gotten on of those swim caps with the shark fin on top to match." Shiro teased. This made them start laughing again. Both of them continued to giggle as they paid for their items and once they exited the store, the two boys burst out laughing. 

After a few minutes of cracking up, catching their breath, then laughing again, the two boys finally calmed down, wiping tears from their eyes. "What is wrong with us?" Keith asked himself. 

Shiro only chuckled at this. "Hanging out with you has ruined my sense of humor, I hope you're proud of yourself."

"For sure," Keith said while smiling before pulling out his phone to check the time. "It's only noon, do you want to stay here longer or go home?"

"Your mom is probably still asleep, so let's hang out here for a little bit longer." Shiro said while looking around. "Hey, can we go to Starbucks, I need caffeine."

Agreeing with Shiro, the two boys made their way to the closest Starbucks. Upon arriving they found no line and the two teens both ordered a Carmel Frappuccino, Keith got extra caramel and Shiro got no whip cream (Keith found it bizarre that Shiro disliked whip cream). Once their drinks were done they found a table at the back corner of the shop and sat there to drink their Frappuccinos.

"So Keith," Shiro started, making Keith look up from his phone screen. "When are you going to get a girlfriend?" 

This question made Keith choke on his Frappuccino and caused his face to become bright red. "Excuse me?" Keith asked, a bit flustered. 

Shiro was unaffected by Keith's embarrassment. "Well you are in your second year of high school and you've never had a girlfriend yet. I just have this philosophy that you should date someone at least one time during high school to learn the ropes of dating before collage." Shiro explained. "I'm not saying you HAVE to date anyone, I just think it would be a good idea to broaden your horizon. And no offense, but you could use a girlfriend."

Keith just stared at Shiro in disbelief. "Wow, you are really in a 'lecture Keith about all his life decisions' mood today." Keith said wittily. 

"I'm not trying to be rude to you. Remember, high school-"

"Is the time of your life, I know." Keith said, finishing shiros sentence. "Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to date anyone?"

Shiro raised a single eyebrow. "Is that so? So you are telling me that you've never had a crush on someone?" 

Keith hated talking about this kind of stuff. Sure, he's had crushes before, he just didn't like discussing the topic with other people. For some reason he couldn't bring himself to talk about those things. But he's definitely had crushes on people, only they probably aren't who you'd expect. 

Incase you didn't already guess it, Keith is what some people would call homosexual. He liked guys. He liked dicks. He did not like girl. He did not like vaginas. It's not a very big deal, Keith could never understand why some people view homosexuality as a sin. He was essentially the same as every other guy in the world, only he liked guys rather than girls. 

But anyway, Keith hasn't told anyone about this. Not his mom, not Acxa, not Shiro. No one. He just didn't know how to casually bring it up. And when the subject of sexuality comes up in conversation, Keith's mind just blanks and he pretends nothing is wrong. If someone asks if he's straight, Keith would change the subject. Sexuality doesn't define a person, and Keith doesn't want people treating him differently because he's gay. The way Keith sees it, if he were to ever get a boyfriend, he'd want to introduce them to his friends and parents the same way he would if he was straight and had a girlfriend. 

Anyway, back to the subject of crushes. Keith would always be confused why he didn't like any girls throughout elementary school when most of his friends did. His friends would talk about having a crush on a girl from their class, but Keith never got that feeling. By the time Keith got to fifth grade, he thought something was seriously wrong with him. Then middle school rolled around. Keith had learned about what it meant to be gay (no one ever told him about it) and thought maybe this applied to him. Throughout middle school Keith would question his sexuality, becoming frustrated with himself, wondering if he actually was gay or if he was faking it for attention. He spent many night contemplating his sexuality and taking multiple 'am I gay?' quizzes online. He was basically a huge mess for many years. 

That was until the summer after eighth grade, right before high school, when Keith had his gay awakening. To make a very long and dramatic story short, Keith saw Shiro getting out of the pool one day at a swim meet, and basically everything was in slow motion and Shiro looked like a super attractive models from those hair product commercials. Keith ended up missing one of his races that day because he was trying to calm down in a bathroom stall. His swim coach was NOT happy about that. 

That event basically lead to Keith hopelessly pining after Shiro the remainder of that summer and the first half of freshman year. Keith knew that Shiro wasn't into guys, but that did nothing to stop his crush. The majority of the time Keith pined after Shiro, he was dating a soccer player named Allura. She was absolutely gorgeous, smooth dark skin, long and silky white hair, stunning blue eyes with specks of purple in them. It was hard for Keith to hate her because she was just so goddamn nice on top of looking like a literal Greek goddess. 

Eventually Keith's heart gave up on Shiro, finally accepting the fact that nothing would ever happen between them. Keith felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders after this had happened. He was pretty good friends with Shiro when they were kids, but they became so much closer. Keith was happy and grateful that he had Shiro in his life at all. He'd much rather have Shiro as a friend then have him gone from his life if he acted on his crush. And trust me, their friendship would have never been the same if Keith confessed. 

"Umm, Earth to Keith?" 

"You good man?"

"KEITH!"

Keith was brought out of his thoughts by Shiro yelling his name while waving his prosthetic hand in front of Keith's face. "What were you saying?" 

"I was asking why you haven't liked anyone recently. Do you like someone and just don't want to me? Because if that's the case then I guess that's fine, but just know you can always talk to me." Shiro told Keith, looking a little hurt and sad, like a puppy that was just kicked in the face. 

Keith didn't know how to answer that question honestly without totally breaking Shiro. "Shiro, if I ever were to like someone, you'll be the first person to know." Keith reassures the older boy, feeling slightly bad about lying. This made Shiro smile, taking a large sip of his Frappuccino which gave him a brain freeze. 

"I'm serious though Keith, try to date. Who knows, it might be something you like." Shiro told him while they both got up from their table to throw away their cups. 

Keith just groaned. "Maybe. Now let's go home and tell my mom about what's happened today."

——————————

"Mom we are home!" Keith yelled as he entered the house, Shiro following close behind. He expected his mom to be upstairs in her room watching Greys Anatomy (Keith didn't understand how she worked in the hospital all day to come home to watch a tv show about hospitals). What he wasn't expecting, however, was his mother sitting at the kitchen counter, looking quite upset. "Hey mom. Is everything good?" 

Krolia slowly turned her head towards the two boys, glaring in their direction. "What was the one thing I asked you to do?" Krolia asked in an exasperated voice. 

Keith furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Why was his mom mad at him? Then realization hit him like a truck. "Unload the dishwasher?" He asked innocently while looking down at his feet.

"And what did you forget to do?" 

Keith let out a long sigh. "Unload the dishwasher, I know. I'll do it now." 

Krolia shot him an exasperated smile before speak. "Thanks bud. What would I do without you?" She said sarcastically. While Keith unloaded the dishwasher, Shiro filled her in about what had occurred so far this morning. Krolia just stared at Keith in disbelief. "You are actually being social and active for once? Who are you and what have you done to Keith?" She said, having a hard time believing her son was joining swim team. But nonetheless, she was happy for her son, despite the disbelief she felt. And Keith knew that. 

"Ok Keith, do you want to go to the gym tonight to start swimming. I can be your temporary swim coach!!" Shiro said excitedly. 

Keith just chuckled and shook his head sideways. "Sure, why not. It's your lucky day Shiro, you get the opportunity to watch me practically drown later."

Shiro laughed at this. "Wonderful, that sounds like lots of fun."


End file.
